Program Requirements

State Requirement for Teacher Education Programs

In 1985 Missouri passed a requirement that candidates for entry into state-approved
teacher education programs in Missouri colleges and universities must achieve a satisfactory
rating in specified subject areas. The State Board of Education established cut-off
scores for each section of the MoGEA.

Obtaining the degree of AAT requires passing scores on all sections of MoGEA.

Other Requirements for the AAT

GPA

A minimum Grade Point Average of 2.75 on a scale of 4.0 is required for the AAT. 2.75
is the GPA that is minimally required for entrance into the School of Education at
any transfer institution. Several transfer institutions have set their minimum GPA
for admittance higher than 27.5, please check with your transfer institution of choice
to determine the GPA required.

The state of Missouri will not issue a teacher certification to candidates whose overall
GPA is not 2.75 or above. Not only do you need a 2.75 to transfer to a 4-year school,
you must maintain that GPA, or raise it, while you are finishing your Bachelor’s degree.

In-Field Experiences

Teacher education programs, including this one for the AAT, require numerous hours
of in-the-field observation. Each course should clearly define the in-the-field requirements
up front in the syllabus. EDUC 201 is a field experience course, thus a majority of
course time (30-36 clock hours) will be spent in a preK-12 classroom observing a certified
teacher in his/her day to day work with students, and hopefully participating with
the teacher and students in various activities.

Field experiences require teacher education students to be available to visit classrooms
during the normal school hours (approx. 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.). If the teacher education
student holds full-time day employment he/she is responsible for arranging schedules
that will allow for classroom visits. Please note that during the last year of teacher
education preparation every student will be required to Student Teach full-time for
a period of no less than eight weeks (many 4-year schools require more than 8 weeks)
and thus maintaining full-time day employment will not be possible at that time.

Portfolio Artifacts and Reflection Papers

Metropolitan Community College Teacher Education program does not require AAT students
to submit a portfolio for review prior to graduation (many community colleges in the
state do include this requirement). Instead, many of the assignments that would typically
be compiled into a portfolio to display a student’s knowledge and skills in the field
are included in the various education courses. Instructors will inform students which
assignments are portfolio artifacts. These assignments should be completed with care
and both a clean copy of the assignment as well as a graded copy of the assignment
should be kept by the student for possible submission to the transfer institution.
MCC instructors may, in addition, require a reflection paper regarding artifact assignments.

Grades of C or Better

Transfer institutions will not accept coursework for which the student has obtained
a grade lower than a C. Additionally, the State of Missouri will not count coursework
with grades lower than a C toward the requirements for a teacher certification. Missouri
also requires that education majors maintain a GPA of 3.0 in all education coursework.
Middle school and secondary school teachers are also required to maintain a GPA of
3.0 in their field of study (the subject he/she intends to teach.)